Josh Jung and Luke Ritter Inducted Into Foresters Hall of Fame
The Annual Santa Barbara Foresters Hall of Fame Baquet was Held At Cabrillo Pavilion

The Santa Barbara Foresters hosted their annual Hall of Fame induction ceremony on Sunday at Cabrillo Pavilion.
Josh Jung and Luke Ritter were the latest Foresters to be honored with Hall of Fame induction in the class of 2025. Both Jung and Ritter played for the Foresters in 2017 and Ritter returned to the Foresters for a second season in 2018.
In addition to his legendary collegiate career at Texas Tech, Jung was Foresters MVP in 2017 when he hit .368 and led the team with 31 RBI. Two years later, Josh was chosen eighth overall by the Rangers.
“He was very special, very locked in,” said Foresters longtime manager Bill Pintard in his remarks introducing Jung. “You could tell he was different.”
Jung was named Big 12 player of the decade by D1 Baseball. In his first professional at bat Jung hit a homerun and in his first Major League Baseball at bat late in the 2022 season he hit another home run.
By the start of the 2023 season Jung grabbed the starting spot at th. He was a third base. two-time AL Rookie of the Month, ending with 23 homers and 70 RBI on the season while earning a spot on the starting lineup for the AL All-Star Team. After the Rangers won the AL pennant, he hit .350 as the Rangers beat the Diamondbacks to win the franchise’s first World Series. Josh is the first Foresters player to earn a World Series ring.
“The one other thing that I will say is that the Hugs for Cubs is a tremendous thing and it really instilled in me that you play for something more than yourself. You’re playing for a lot of people that can’t even play this game,” said Jung of the Foresters’ charitable work for childhood cancer patients. “Bill was the first one to introduce me to that and it just revitalized something in my heart. It’s something that I will always take with me.”
Luke Ritter began his Foresters career as a temp player, but quickly took off and parlayed his positive experience in Santa Barbara into a productive college and professional career.
In 2017 Luke was second on the team with 21 RBI. He returned in 2018 to lead the team with 37 RBI. A season highlight was hitting for the cycle with five hits and six RBI in an 18-7 win over the Riptide. More importantly he helped Santa Barbara win the NBC World Series championship in Wichita. Luke was drafted by the New York Mets in 2019 and has steadily moved up, reaching AAA in 2024 with the Syracuse. He has flashed his trademark versatility playing 1B, 2B, 3B, OF, and DH while also leading his club with 26 homers. Luke will debut in Mets big-league camp this spring.
“I realized yesterday when I was playing golf with him that he’s the same guy that I kind of fell in love with when he was a player. He plays with love in his heart, a smile on his face and he plays his rear end off,” Pintard said. “For me to see the type of success that he’s having, I’m just thrilled about it.”